President Joe Biden said the suspect in the New Orleans terrorist attack that killed at least 10 people had expressed a “desire to kill,” with several social media posts indicating he was an ISIS sympathizer. He also conveyed his interests in causing harm and murdering people with posts on social media before the attack.
“The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media, indicating that is inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill,” Biden remarked on Wednesday.
The suspect died in a rain of gunfire from police after crashing his vehicle and shooting at law enforcement.
The president says the nation is grieving for the victims in New Orleans and that the FBI is leading the investigation into the attack but that the situation is “very fluid.” The suspect was a 42-year-old Army veteran from Texas. He served on active duty and in the Army Reserve for many years.
Biden also repeated known information that the suspect had an ISIS flag in his trunk and explosives were found in the vehicle and in the surrounding area. He said that he’s directed his “attorney general, the FBI director, the secretary of homeland security, head of the National Counterintelligence Terrorism Center, and the intelligence community to work on this intensively.”
“The law enforcement intelligence community are continuing to look for any connections, associations are co-conspirators. We have nothing additional reported this time, the investigation is continuing to be active, and no one should jump to conclusions,” he added.
Biden noted that the White House is tracking the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at a Trump hotel in Las Vegas and whether there’s any possible connection to the New Orleans attack.
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Biden maintained that the government is ensuring every resource is available to law enforcement to ensure there is no remaining threat in New Orleans.
“So I know while this person committed a terrible assault on the city, the spirit of our New Orleans will never, never, never be defeated,” he concluded. “It always will shine forth. We’ve seen that time and time again throughout its history, and I know we’ll see it again in the days and weeks ahead.”
Biden then left without answering any press questions.